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Duquan Weems
Duquan "Dukie" Weems, played by Jermaine Crawford, is a pupil at the Edward Tilghman Middle School. His home life is anarchic because all the adults in his home are alcoholics or drug addicts. He lives in rank poverty, as his peers tease him for his body odor and his clothes. Anything that Dukie brings into his home is used by his family to make money. He relies heavily on his friends Namond Brice, Michael Lee and Randy Wagstaff for emotional and sometimes financial support. However, Namond and others often mercilessly bully Dukie. Michael however remains loyal to Dukie more than the rest of the boys giving him both work and residency at the season's end. Biography Season 4 Dukie faces bullying and beatings from a rival gang of boys, from whom his friends fiercely protect him. Following Dukie receiving a beating, his friends plan a retaliation. Dukie takes part of the retaliation of throwing urine-filled balloons but the plan backfires due to Namond accidentally bursting urine on himself and some of his friends are caught and viciously beaten. After the backfire, Namond rewards his friends for their efforts with ice cream, except for Dukie, but Namond quickly changes his mind at Mike's urging. The assistant principal at Dukie's middle school, Marcia Donnelly, provides him with second-hand school equipment. She has one of his peers deliver it to him at home but is careful to instruct her to give it directly to Dukie to be sure that it reaches him. Dukie is grateful to the girl, Crystal, for her help. When the school year begins Dukie walks to school with his eighth grade classmates Randy, Michael and Namond. Rather than them calling for him he waits for them and then joins them. Randy gives Dukie his packed lunches to eat. De'Londa Brice refuses to let Dukie into her home when the boys call for Namond. Outside school Dukie finds a discarded electric fan and he spends his free time on the first day of school repairing it. He is bullied by his classmates for his lack of personal hygiene, in particular a girl named Chiquan refuses to sit next to him in Mr. Pryzbylewski's math class. Chiquan is attacked by another girl, Laetitia, that she bullied, who wields a boxcutter. The girl slashes the side of Chiquan's face and is then disarmed by Mrs. Sampson. Dukie approaches Laetitia as she sits on the floor in a state of shock. He gives her his repaired mini-electric fan. Dukie helps to convince Randy that Stanfield soldier Chris Partlow is a murderer rather than a supernatural force. He tells Randy he witnessed Chris kill someone in a vacant building but asks him to keep it a secret. He shows Randy and Michael the body of one of Partlow's victims interred in a vacant house as proof. Prez tries to help Dukie by giving him food at lunchtime and providing him with new clothes. The clothes are soon taken by Dukie's family to be sold for drugs and booze. Prez later gives Dukie another set of clothes, which are to be kept in a gym locker at school. He offers to let Dukie inside the gym early to wash up in the morning and to take his clothes home to clean in the evening. Dukie becomes close to his teacher and helps him to unearth a computer from storage at the school which he later uses for a special class project. Dukie begins to enjoy the class and becomes one of the more competent students, as well as learning a variety of skills on the computer. Duquan's newfound confidence soon gets him a promotion to the ninth grade much to his dismay. Although its clear Duquan is not socially ready to enter the ninth grade, the school looks at it as a way to "juke stats" which makes it look like their students are showing better progress and advancement in their skills than they really are. Duquan bids farewell to Prez, who tells Duquan to visit him at school whenever he can. Duquan comes to his house one night with Michael and sees an eviction notice on the door. With his family being evicted and no place to stay Michael offers Duquan a place at his new residence provided by Marlo. Duquan accepts. Michael further shows his loyalty as a friend to Dukie by beating down Namond after Namond makes fun of him for a last time in Cutty's gymnasium. In the season finale Duquan makes an attempt at going to his new school but, without the presence and support of his friends, he can't bring himself to go to class. Later he pays a visit to Prez at school without his backpack, wearing brand-new clothes, and bearing a gift for Prez. Prez is suspicious and follows Duquan, only to find out he's now dropped out of school and is on the corner selling drugs as part of his friend Michael's crew. Season 5 Duquan fails to win the respect of Michael's drug dealing crew including Spider and Kenard. When the drug dealers won't communicate with Dukie, Michael decides to take him off the corner and pay him to look after Bug. Dukie is worried about the emasculating effect of the decision and concerned over how he will spend his time but accepts Michael's recommendation. Following his involvement as a lookout in a triple homicide Michael becomes socially withdrawn. Dukie convinces Michael to take a day trip to Six Flags with him and Bug. The two enjoy their day but when they return Monk confronts Michael about leaving his corner unattended. After being taunted by Kenard and beaten up by Spider, Dukie tries to get Michael to teach him to shoot, and approaches Cutty for training in self-defense. Dukie tries to find work at a shoe store but the salesman, Poot, tells him that he can not apply until he is 17. When Michael is forced to go on the run from Marlo's crew, Dukie goes to stay with the heroin-addicted arabber who offered him work. Duquan pays a visit to his former teacher, Mr. Pryzbylewski, asking him for a loan in order to get back in school and get his GED. Prez is immediately suspicious of this, but gives Duquan the money anyway. When Pryzbylewski drops him off after giving him the money he sees that, as he expected, he had in fact been hustled by Duquan, who returns to the arabber with the money in hand. Pryzbylewski drives off as Duquan and the arabber go off to buy drugs. In the ending montage, Dukie is shown shooting heroin with the arabber. His actions parallel those of Bubbles. Personality Due to his poor home life, he is often bullied and beaten by his peers. He is disliked and taunted by many of Michael's friends, especially Namond Brice. However, he has a good relationship with Michael and Randy, who support him. His home life is destitute. As a result, he wears run-down clothes and has body odor. He seems to be respectful, confident and also kind hearted. Relationships Michael Lee Duquan's friendship with Michael is confidently one of the strongest in the fourth season. Michael often aids Dukie in his troubles with his peers, and when Dukie is teased, Michael defends him. For example, when Namond refused to buy ice cream for Dukie despite his best efforts in the retaliation and being the main reason for planning the backfired plan, Michael gives Namond an irritated, urging look that convinced him to hand Dukie a dollar bill. Another time is that Michael has him removed from his crew in order to protect him from Kenard and Spider. Michael's loyalty towards Dukie becomes stronger through the course of season four and season five. Namond Brice Despite the two of them being friends, Namond frequently teases and insults Dukie. Even though Namond helped defend Dukie by participating in the retaliation against the terrace children, he later refused to buy ice cream for Dukie until Michael urged him. Namond becomes more friendly to Dukie as the series progresses but still insults him. Randy Wagstaff Dukie has a friendly friendship with Randy, as he shows loyalty towards him. Roland Pryzbylewski Mr. Pryzbylewski is really nice towards Dukie and shows immediate support for Dukie, providing clothes for him. He strongly makes sure that he is provided with clothes and safety from others. Production Appearances References Category:Characters Category:Recurring Characters Category:Season 4 Characters Category:Season 5 Characters Category:Drug dealers Category:Edward Tilghman Middle School students